
Speedmaster
5K posts
Speedmaster
@speedmaster
Charcuterie-board influencer, air-conditioning enthusiast, mid-century and googie stan.




Europe has one of the most essential and irreplaceable companies in the global AI supply chain: ASML, which produces the machines that TSMC uses to make its chips. These machines are roughly the size of double-decker buses. To ship one requires 40 freight containers, three cargo planes, and 20 trucks. They are the world’s most complex objects. Each contains over one hundred thousand components, all of which have to be perfectly calibrated for the machine to produce light consistently at the right wavelength. ASML was once seen as an also-ran compared to its arch-rivals Nikon and Canon. It succeeded thanks to involvement in a US program to develop extreme ultraviolet lithography, which only happened because the Americans were so worried about losing to Japan. ASML also outsourced much of its R&D instead of trying to do it all in house, which allowed it to spread its bets across many different companies. Today, the entire global AI industry depends on ASML. Understanding its success is crucial to understanding Europe's position in AI today, and how it can leverage that to avoid being left behind tomorrow. worksinprogress.co/issue/the-worl…












